Apple Orders 160M iPhone 8 OLED Panels

By
PC Mag ME TeamFeb. 14, 2017, 6 p.m.

Samsung Display secures huge order worth billions from its rival.

All the rumors suggest the iPhone 8 will be a very different smartphone to the iPhone 7 and what has come before. We're already expecting a handset encased in glass, and with that the integration of wireless charging. Now it seems as though, yet again, Samsung will be an integral part of delivering the next iPhone thanks to a huge order for OLED panels.

According to The Korean Herald, last year Apple ordered 100 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for use in the iPhone 8. However, it is now thought that order has been increased to 160 million, which is worth an additional $4.3 billion to Samsung.

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Although iPhone sales dipped in 2016, they still remained above 200 million a year. If this Samsung order is to be believed, the Korean company will be relied upon for the bulk of the panels used in the iPhone 8. As to why Apple decided to increase the order, it could be down to a supply issue.

Apple likes to source components from a number of companies for its products. That way risk is lowered if one of those suppliers experiences a supply issue. In this case, it could be that one of the companies Apple selected to supply OLED panels isn't viable and Samsung agreed to pick up the slack. Either that, or Apple reviewed its sales forecast for the iPhone 8 and decided it needed to make more of them. As for who will handle the rest of Apple's OLED panel orders, LG is thought to be the other main supplier.

Samsung used OLED panels in many of its smartphones and can therefore be relied upon to produce them in large quantities and to the standards Apple requires. This also demonstrates Samsung's production capacity, which must cope with its own needs as well as this massive new order from Apple.